Drive With Aloha mural develops on the walls at Kauai High School

Kauai High School teachers, students, and community volunteers turned out Saturday to work on the Drive With Aloha mural that spanned the length of the school’s R Building.

A collaborative effort between the Hawaii Department of Transportation, Keep It Flowing Media, Hawaii Partnership to Prevent Underage Drinking, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and the Coalition for a Drug-Free Hawaii teamed up with different schools around Hawaii — in Saturday’s case it was Kauai High School — to create the multi-messaged artwork that promotes safe and sober driving.

“We opened this to everyone,” said Marissa Purcell, the school’s vice principal. “Most of the students here are from student government. The boy’s basketball team, who recently earned the Central Pacific Bank Kauai Interscholastic Federation title, are getting ready for the state tournament, but said they will try and come.”

Priti Maya Tayal of Hale Opio, celebrating its 50th anniversary, said she had a group of six volunteering from the current Leadership Kauai cohort because the project tied in with the Mental Health and Substance Use theme, one of the Leadership Kauai participants adding, “It’s about well being.”

“Kauai High School is the 10th school in the state to receive a large-scale Drive With Aloha mural,” the school posted on its Instagram page. “It is the goal of the program to assist the community in stopping impaired driving crashes, and to reinforce driving sober through art and education.”

Assisting with the artwork, local artists and muralist Trysen Kaneshige was the author of the first mural to appear on the walls of Kauai High School. Local artist and boat captain Victoria Aiu brought her mother Mavis Aiu to help channel the students’ energies onto the wall, Ryson Lapenia was experiencing his first mural on Kauai, and Ken “East” Nishimura of Keep It Flowing Media was fortunate enough to be here when the sakura — the inspiration of a mural he created in Kapaa that has since been covered up — are starting to bloom in Kokee.

Nishimura said the hit-and-run traffic incident on Wednesday only served to heighten the motivation for creating the mural and delivering the message.

“We knew the victim and his father from before they moved to Kauai,” Nishimura said. “Laycie Love knew them here, and when she called to tell us, she was crying and we all ended up crying after we found out. He’s at Queen’s Medical Center right now, and we’re all praying.”

Before laying down the first strokes of paint, Kauai High School hosted a sign-waving rally, and a special assembly to talk about the message. The mural unveiling is scheduled for March 3.